Diatessaron

Tatian, ANF 9

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever keepeth my word shall not see death for ever. …

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever keepeth my word shall not see death for ever. 2The Jews said unto him, Now we know that thou hast demons. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, Whosoever keepeth my word shall not taste death for ever. 3Art thou haply greater than our father Abraham, who is dead, and than the prophets, which are dead? whom makest thou thyself? 4Jesus said unto them, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: my Father is he that glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is our¹ God; 5and yet ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say that I know him not, I should become a liar like you: but I know him, and keep his word. 6Abraham your father longed to see my day; and he saw, and rejoiced. 7The Jews said unto him, Thou art now not fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 8Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. And they take² stones to stone him:³ 9but Jesus concealed himself, and went out of the temple. And he passed through them, and went his way.

And as he passed, he saw a man blind from his mother’s womb. 11And his disciples asked him, and said, Our Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, so that he was born blind?⁴ 12Jesus said unto them, Neither did he sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God may be seen in him.⁵ 13It is incumbent on me to do the deeds of him that sent me, while it is day: a night will come, and no man will be able to busy himself. 14As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 15And when he said that, he spat upon the ground, and made clay of his spittle, and smeared it on the eyes of the blind man, and said unto him, 16Go and wash thyself in the pool⁶ of Siloam.⁷ 17And he went and washed, and came seeing. And his neighbours, which saw him of old begging, said, Is not this he that was sitting begging? 18And some said, It is he; and others said, Nay, but he resembles him much. 19He said, I am he. They said unto him, How then were thine eyes opened? 20He answered and said unto them, A man named Jesus made clay, and smeared it on my eyes, and said unto me, Go and wash in the water of Siloam: and I went and washed, and received sight.⁸ 21They said unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. 22And they brought him that was previously blind to the Pharisees. 23And the day in which Jesus made clay and opened with it his eyes was a sabbath day. 24And again the Pharisees asked him, How didst thou receive sight? And he said unto them, He put clay on mine eyes, and I washed, and received sight. 25The people⁹ of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he keepeth not the sabbath. And others said, How can a man that is a sinner do these signs? And there came to be a division amongst them. 26And again they said to that blind man, Thou, then, what sayest thou of him that opened for thee thine eyes? He said unto them, I say that he is a prophet. 27And the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he was blind, and received sight, until they summoned the parents of him who received sight, and asked them, 28Is this¹⁰ your son, of whom ye said that he was born blind? how then, behold, doth he now see? 29His parents answered and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: 30but how he has come to see now, or who it is that opened his eyes, we know not: and he also has reached his prime; ask him, and he will speak for himself. 31This said his parents, because they were fearing the Jews: and the Jews decided, that if any man should confess of him that he was the Messiah, they would put him out of the synagogue. 32For this reason said his parents, He hath reached his prime; ask him. 33And they called the man a second time, him that was blind, and said unto him, Praise God: we know that this man is a sinner. 34He answered and said unto them, Whether he be a sinner, I know not: I know one thing, that I was blind, and I now see. 35They said unto him again, What did he unto thee? how opened he for thee thine eyes? 36He said unto them, I said unto you, and ye did not hear: what¹¹ wish ye further to hear? ye also, do ye wish to become disciples to him? 37And they reviled him, and said unto him, Thou art the disciple¹² of that man; but as for us, we are the disciples of Moses. 38And we know that God spake unto Moses: but this man, we know not whence he is. 39The man answered and said unto them, From this is the wonder, because ye know not whence he is, and mine eyes hath he opened. 40And we know that God heareth not the voice of sinners: but whosoever feareth him, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 41From eternity hath it not been heard of, that a man opened the eyes of a blind man, who had been born in blindness. 42If then this man were not from God, he could not do that. 43They answered and said unto him, Thou wast all of thee born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they put him forth without.

And Jesus heard of his being put forth without, and found him, and said unto him, Dost thou believe in the Son of God? 45He that was made whole answered and said, Who is he, my Lord, that I may believe in him? 46Jesus said unto him, Thou hast seen him, and he that speaketh to thee is he. 47And he said, I believe, my Lord. And he fell down worshipping him.

Notes

cf. Peshitta. The Sinaitic omits our.
The Vat. MS. has took him, probably omitting stones, though Ciasca does not say so. Take is probably a copyist’s error (change in diacritical points) for took.
John viii. 60 [reckoned to verse 59 in the Greek.].
A different word in Arabic from that used in verses 1 and 6.
The Vat. MS. has that we may see the works of God in him. By the addition of a diacritical point this would give the same sense as in the text above, and more grammatically.
The Arabic word properly means baptism. The Syriac has both meanings.
Lit. Shilbha, as in Syriac.
Lit. saw.
An easy clerical error for Some.
Lit. them, whether this be.
Or, why (cf. note, §7 p 38).
Disciples is probably simply a misprint in Ciasca’s text.